Down Club Hurling & Football

[alba2]

Having been at the game and having watched it again on tv - i honestly wonder Aidan Carr brings to the team apart form free kicks.  Mark Poland can hit thema nd gets through far maore work than Carr.  That lad that had his leg broke - carragher - jasus the snap can be heard on the tv.  Hope he makes a good recovery - dont like when young players with whole career ahead of them get bad injuries. Now for laois.  They hit 1.13 yesterday and hit loads of wides as well.  they seem to be working hard in games although i was talking to an Armagh supporter on sat night and he reckoned Laois are th worst team in the league by far.  yes they Beat Armagh but he reckoned with 15 players they would have taken them. 

[PAULD123]

After an amazing result against the dubs last week where the boys where brilliant I couldn't believe we couldn't beat an Armagh seconds team......

I think there has come a time for some level headeness about the Armagh team that won. Yes it was understrength and what a fantastic job they did to play with such desire and determination. But a lot of posters on this forum are giving them some near mythical David vs Goliath status. Don't forget we were missing Rafferty, Rooney, G MCCartan, McComiskey, Doyle, Murtagh and Benny was not fully fit. So basically Down were missing at least 4 players who would have started if fit (Doyle, Rooney, G McCartan, Benny). Armagh were 4 perhaps 5 players short of their full side.

McDonnell is not an Armagh player any more and Ronan Clarke is never likely to ever play again, so let's not say they were understrength because of players who will never be there. If that is the case then we were missing Marty Clarke and Mooney!! So let's be clear - Mallon, Donaghy, Dyas, McKeever, Duffy, Vernon, Padden, Mallon and Rafferty will start in the Ulster Championship against Tyrone. That's 9 of the starting outfield 14 who are the first choice team. Apart from the keeper (who would hardly improve the team much) there are only 2 Cross players certain to start - Kernan and Clarke. 

With a full squad to choose from it is likely that M O'Rourke would start and probably Toner/Mackin, but they could easily lose their place to Lavery or McKenna who both played. And won't it be hard to drop Stevenson after a masterclass in free taking?

This was not an Armagh reserve side by any means, it was an understrength side missing two class players (Clarke & Kernan) who played a Down side without some of our best defenders. Well done Armagh and they deserve credit for the display but they were by no means the ramshackle troupe of have-a-go heros they are being portrayed as.

[whitegoodman]

Thats a fair point Paul.  I came out of Armagh very flat having suffered a defeat against a very much understrength Armagh team.  However on reflection in realilty probably 10 of that Armagh team will start against Tyrone.  It still doesnt take away from the frustration of the feeling of leaving one behind and what might have been.

MDG you mention favourtism with the subs, they took off the managers brother and the selectors nephew so where did u see the favourtism? If its back to the old chestnote of Anton McArdle I thought it was the right call at the time when King was tiring and we were chasing the game.  It obviously didnt work but I thought he was a better move than bringing on a defensive midfielder in Turley.

On Laverty,yes he has contributed to numerous scores this year but with Carr and Poland in the side do we not have enough playmakers?  Playing in a 2 man FF line especially, the need for score taking is essential and the return from not only Laverty but also Coulter, McCartan or whoever else has played in that line to date this year hasnt been enough.  Its not for the want of trying with Laverty but I feel he needs to be a bit more selfish, a bit of ruthless, a bit more clinical.

I would love to see Benny and Laverty starting in Fermanagh with McCumisky and Murtagh to come after 50 mins to shake things up.  I do agree with u that Benny should be starting, he is still Downs most lethal forward and needs more than 20 mins a game to show it.;

[snoopdog]

does anyone know if these guys will be ready for the Ulster Championship?
Rafferty, Rooney, G MCCartan, McComiskey, Doyle

[Naomh Pol CLG]

McComiskey tore us to shreds on Sunday.. Looked fit as a fiddle!

[SHEEDY]

was disappointed leaving the athletic grounds on saturday night, as a down man you never want to lose to armagh be it their 1st, 2nd or ladies team. the match was there for the winning and we couldnt kick on. it now leaves us with a tough game away to laois to avoid possible relegation if other results go against us.

[whitegoodman]

does anyone know if these guys will be ready for the Ulster Championship?
Rafferty, Rooney, G MCCartan, McComiskey, Doyle

Wouldnt take this as gospel but from what ive heard rafferty is running again but a bit away from kicking a ball never mind playing intercounty football, Rooney is training again, not aware of any injury to G McCartan, I thought he was just taken off for tactical reasons against Dublin, McCumiskey is close to full fitness if not already there, not sure of Doyles injury.

[PAULD123]

....Wouldnt take this as gospel but from what ive heard rafferty is running again but a bit away from kicking a ball never mind playing intercounty football, Rooney is training again, not aware of any injury to G McCartan, I thought he was just taken off for tactical reasons against Dublin, McCumiskey is close to full fitness if not already there, not sure of Doyles injury.

Surprised there hasn't been talk about this in Burren. Maybe he doesn't want too much said but I have it from a relative of his that he has a minor problem that needs a bit of medical attention. Hopefully if that's all it is then he should be okay in a week or two.

[Leo]

MDG you mention favourtism with the subs, they took off the managers brother and the selectors nephew so where did u see the favourtism?

Ben O'Reilly comes from nowhere to stake a claim against a fired-up Armagh side in a must-win game??
Any relation to JJ?
This sort of thing belomgs to the 1950's.

[here comes 6]

MDG you mention favourtism with the subs, they took off the managers brother and the selectors nephew so where did u see the favourtism?

Ben O'Reilly comes from nowhere to stake a claim against a fired-up Armagh side in a must-win game??
Any relation to JJ?
This sort of thing belomgs to the 1950's.

The biggest msytery of all seems to be how Anton keeps getting game time. There was a major sye of disapointement when the Down support seen him coming on. Surely the supporters cant all be wrong??

[PAULD123]

Anton is really young but he is big and he is strong. In the absence of Gough he will be the future of our midfield. It will take him time to get his head around playing inter-county football but he must be developed. I wish people would not object so much to him playing. What other midfielder in the county can we develop? In 4-5 years when there is no more Rogers or King (maybe sooner) who will be expected to replace them? I only see McParland and McCardle as the options. Are there any other suggestions? It is correct to develop this young talent.

However I do feel that chasing a victory against an aggressively determined Armagh side away from home with the tide against us was not a great time to introduce young players. I personally would have brought in Turley but I see why WGM thinks that would have been too defensive. But at least he would have been physical.

As for O'Reilly, did we not have Miskelly or McConville on the bench? I didn't have a programme so not sure what our options were.

[DownFanatic]

IFC Winners
1993 Ballymartin
1994 Ballyholland
1995 Saval
1996 Bosco
1997 Attical

Anyone know who any of these teams beat in the Final's?

[NP 76]

We only had 3 subs on the bench who were forwards Benny, O Reilly and Arthur . Would like to see Murtagh back on the panel even for the subs role he played in 2010 . He has experience of the big days and will battle hard . As for Anton and O Reilly and probaly Arthur also these lads are the future as Paul says they need time to adopt and are not going to be the finished article straight but they need the experience at the top level . They also need to be involved in the training to gain the correct conditioning and weight training for the long term benefit . I for one commend James for giving youth a chance although it doesnt always work out but we cant afford to have a group of players retire and have no one there to take their place . This happened before after Pete and we are still rebuilding because alot of lads never got the chance to develop they were threw in at the deep end and expected to perform

[thewobbler]

Down Fanatic,


1993: Ballymartin beat Ballyholland
1994: Ballyholland beat Annaclone
1996: Bosco beat Tullylish

[The Real Gael]

We only had 3 subs on the bench who were forwards Benny, O Reilly and Arthur . Would like to see Murtagh back on the panel even for the subs role he played in 2010 . He has experience of the big days and will battle hard . As for Anton and O Reilly and probaly Arthur also these lads are the future as Paul says they need time to adopt and are not going to be the finished article straight but they need the experience at the top level . They also need to be involved in the training to gain the correct conditioning and weight training for the long term benefit . I for one commend James for giving youth a chance although it doesnt always work out but we cant afford to have a group of players retire and have no one there to take their place . This happened before after Pete and we are still rebuilding because alot of lads never got the chance to develop they were threw in at the deep end and expected to perform

This didnt happen before under Mc Graths rein - that was a totally different problem altogether, Mc Graths problem was he held on too long to players who were clearly well past their best and didnt give youth a chance at all and missed out on a whole generation of player, Mc Cartan meanwhile is too concerned with a different type of loyalty, a family loyalty, getting rid of guys like Murtagh who have been around for years and werent good enough is however a positive move... Bringing in guys from an U21 team like O Reilly, Mc Ardle etc... who failed to even win a game at their own level isnt a great move - we are not good enough and the sooner people realise that then the less shit talk there ll be on here...